I'm only a month late..

Better late than never, right?
Christmas was a little different this year for us, mostly because of Ella, though I'm sure she didn't know what was going on. Sometimes she was interested in pulling the wrapping paper off the presents, sometimes she just wanted to get moving again (since she started crawling at the beginning of Dec.)
We put the tree up on our old T.V. stand to keep her away from it, as well as the presents. She was pretty good about staying away from it all though.

Some of what we did was:

Have a visit with Auntie Clause (Aunt RaKell) and getting fun presents:

(Ella got a snowsuit, little teddy bear, and wooden ornaments-Thanks Kell!)

We made a gingerbread family:
We went ice skating with the Thornes and Ella got to ride in her cousin's little sled:
Had a Polar Express party in our P.J.s with the Thorne side:

(Playing with Gracie and Kai)

(Crawling with Oliver and Kai on the table after dinner.)

Helped mommy shovel the driveway in the cute snowsuit from Auntie Claus:
Dressed like and elf and got a cute Christmas tutu from Aunt Amy at the Berrett Christmas party:
Went to see Santa at the mall with Aunt Erika and cousin Kai, as well as see him at Aunt Shirley's Christmas party:(She was happy as a clam sitting there with Kai, she was giggling and even tugged on Santa's beard a bit, but when she looked him strait in the face, she lost it. They even had a sequence of pictures of her face clouding up. It was so funny and cute, but sad too. I, of course, rescued her while Kai just chilled, nothing phased him. Hopefully we'll have many more cousin outings as they grow up, it's fun to be out and about with them.)


Got cute boots from cousin Kai in the cousin gift exchange:
Ella got lots of other fun presents: a cute flower picture to hang in her room, cute butterfly and flower stickers to decorate her room with, a curiosity cube toy, and some fun new outfits from Grandma and Grandpa Thorne. From my parents she got a handmade teddy bear with a pocket for a rice bag (you can heat or freeze). From Santa she got some new pajamas and a dolly. From us she got some new clothes and a couple of toys. I think she had a pretty good 1st Christmas, and I know we were pretty happy to finally be able to share our Christmas with a little one.

More about Ella lately: she pulls herself up on pretty much anything she can find. Her 2 bottom teeth finally came in- to stay this time (I never knew teeth could pop up and go back down-talk about torture!) She jabbers and giggles, loves to feed herself her snacks and loves to pinch. She'll be 10 months old tomorrow!!! She's so perfect and so wonderful and I love her SO much, I can't imagine not having her.

I won!

A couple of weeks ago, I won a contest for emailing the show "Good Things Utah" on channel 4. The contest they've been running all month (there's a winner every day) is "The Greatest Gift You Ever Gave". I wrote in about a gift I gave my mom:

GTU,

For as long as I could remember, my mom NEVER wore her diamond engagement ring, just her plain wedding band. She always kept it in it's box in her jewelry drawer, and as I got older I became curious as to why she never wore it (it's simple but very pretty). She told me it was because the prongs had worn down and she was afraid the diamond would get lost. I felt so bad about this that when I had the money to, I snuck it out of her room, and took it to the jewelry store to have it re-pronged and cleaned. I almost didn't recognize it when I went to pick it up. I could hardly wait to give her her ring back, and when she opened the gift, she was so touched that she started to cry a little. It made me so happy to have given her so much joy and I love to see her wearing her ring again after so long (my parents have been married 40 years now)!

When they said they were going to announce the winner, I figured it probably wouldn't be me. Then they said my name and I thought....maybe it's a different Julianna Thorne (yeah right, I'm pretty sure there aren't that many of us in the world), then they read my email. I was in shock and kind of giddy! Anyway, I won this:Left to right: "Mickey's Magical Christmas", "Mickey Saves Santa: and other Mouseketales", "Winnie the Pooh: Seasons of Giving", "The Muppet Christmas Carol", "A Muppets Christmas", "Santa Buddies", "Snow Buddies", "Phineas and Ferb: A Very Perry Christmas", "Mickey's Christmas Carol", and "The Nightmare Before Christmas".
Over $200 worth of Christmas Disney DVDs! We've only heard of a couple of them, but they'll be great for when Ella's a little older, and for our future kiddos.

THANK YOU, "GOOD THINGS UTAH"!!


Oh, and by the way, has anyone else noticed how much more the word 'Christmas' is being said on T.V? I'm loving it! For awhile there they wanted to be PC or whatever and wouldn't say Christmas, but now people are saying it again! Yay!

Hawaiian Thanksgiving

This year we went to Maui for Thanksgiving with Jer's family. It was a much needed vacation for us because it's been such a stressful year.

I almost wished we hadn't gone at the beginning of the trip because of how rough the trip to get there was. Our flight to San Francisco was delayed, then when we got there, our flight was delayed, then delayed again, then delayed again, then they had to switch out planes so it was delayed again. We were in that airport at that gate for about 8 hours I think. Because of all the delays, we missed our next flight out of Honolulu to Maui, so after the 6 + hour flight out of San Fran (Ella had a REALLY rough time, meaning we didn't really sleep on that flight-yes, ours was the crying baby on the long airplane ride-though Jer slept through most of it, lucky for him), we got to hang out in the Honolulu airport (which was basically closed since it was the middle of the night) for another few hours before we could re-check-in and fly to our final destination. I felt so bad for Ella, she was SO SO tired, and so out of her element in all these new, unknown places; on top of that she had a grouchy mom who was trying to take care of her the best she could under the circumstances.

Anyway, I hate to complain, I mean we were going to Hawaii, so we should have been happier. I kept thinking that, but it was hard when all I could think was-we wouldn't be having these problems if we were home.

We FINALLY made it to our destination, packed in the rentals and headed to the Marriott Ocean Club. After bathing the baby, ourselves, and settling in, we took a nap that made all the difference. The vacation had *officially* begun.

We spent a lot of time on the beach and the kiddie pool, though Ella wasn't a fan of the ocean. Every time the waves rolled in she'd start to whimper, poor thing. Hopefully the next time she sees the ocean, she'll love it and the beach as much as I do.

We also spent a lot of time in Lahaina enjoying THE BEST shave ice in the world....Ululani's. SO delicious! We got shave ice from there nearly every night. I wish I had a picture of the tastiness.

For Thanksgiving, we went to a Luau. It was fun, but I missed the traditional food and pies.

Every time we went anywhere, people would see Ella and smile. I swear she brought so much happiness to people. We didn't go a day without someone saying something to us about how adorable she is. A group of people who were about to leave a restaurant we were at had to stop and tell us how cute she is and that they couldn't leave without telling us what a cute, sweet baby we had. At the luau, there was a man sitting across the way from us and he kept talking to Ella. He was obviously a little tipsy, so it was kind of funny to watch him make faces at her. One of Ella's cousins, Jonah, is so protective of her that he was a little upset that this guy was talking to her. At the end of the luau, the man came over to say goodbye to her, and after he left, Jonah came over a little perturbed. He asked if it bugged us when people talked to her, I told him no and that it was nice to hear that she was cute from other people. He said, "Of course she's cute, we don't need other people to come tell us that!".

We ate a lot of good food, had a lot of good family time, and relaxed quite a bit. It was a much-needed vacation.

Our trip back was uneventful and it was very nice to be back home.
We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving too!
Now onto Christmas, hopefully we'll be able to start some fun traditions now that we have Ella!

20-30

This is late, but I told myself I'd finish, so here are my Thanks-giving #20-30:
20- Vacations, especially when they're REALLY needed.
21- Beautiful places on this earth that are a treat for the senses.
22- The Gospel of the church I belong to. It brings so much hope and peace to me, especially when I'm feeling the most down.
23- Decorations. They can really warm up a space; even if I'm not very good at it, our house looks a lot homier now.
24- The beautiful sky that seems to go on forever sometimes. It always amazes me when I have the chance to sit and stare at it's vastness.
25- Hot cocoa. It's a nice little chocolate fix, and it's nice to get warmed up.
26- A washer and dryer. I can't imagine having to do laundry in the winter the way they did "way back when".
27- Our dependable car. Even though I don't get to use it that often, I'm glad it's a good, safe vehicle to get us around.
28- Cupcakes and other treats that are a little pick-me-up when I'm having a bad day.
29- Learning new things. How else do we grow and know how to do stuff?
30- Ella. She's the answer to so many prayers and is so much more than I ever could have hoped for. I'm so lucky I get to be her mama.

4-19

I'm playing catch-up again, but at least I'm doing it, right?
I'm grateful for:
4- My husband who tries to do so much for us
5- Our extended families who love and support us
6- Jer's parents, without them, I wouldn't have him
7- My parents, they love me and teach me and brought me up to know right and wrong
8- Our warm house, with warm blankets
9- My intuition
10- My sense of smell, I love the smell of my freshly washed baby
11- My sense of sight, especially when I get a new prescription and new glasses!
12- My sense of touch, I love being able to feel Ella's soft skin and hold her little hands
13- My sense of hearing, Ella's little voice is the sweetest thing I get to hear
14- My sense of taste, chocolate is still one of the best things I can put in my mouth and just enjoy
15- Our employment, even though Jer's isn't the best, at least he has a job. And even though I wish so badly I didn't have to work, at least I get to do it from home so I can be with Ella
16- My soft, cozy bed. I wish I could spend more time curled up on it
17- Friends who keep in touch and care
18- All our nieces and nephews, who are so sweet and loving with Ella (aka Ella Bella)
19- Electronics, although they can be a huge distraction, they also are a major help with SO many things!
That's all for now, I'll probably be catching up again soon.

Thanks-Giving 2&3

So I missed yesterday, so far I'm not doing so well with making sure to do this every day. Oh well, I'm making up for it now.

I'm thankful for temples and for all the awesome things we can do in them. I'm thankful to have the blessing of being able to be with my family forever, and to help those who have gone on before be blessed as well.

I'm also thankful for the trials we go through. I NEVER thought I'd say that, and, honestly, sometimes I'm really not that grateful for them. Even though they majorly suck while you're going through them, I'm grateful for the knowledge and strength we can get from them.

Thanks-Giving 1

I have other friends doing this, so I thought I'd steal the idea. I'm going to blog something I'm thankful for every day this month (or at least try to).
Today I'm thankful for prayer and the comfort it brings us. How amazing to be able to speak to our Heavenly Father whenever we need to, about whatever we need. It's one of the only times I can talk without feeling like I'm saying something stupid or being dumb, and I always feel less alone when I pray.